SECâ€™s IDEA To Replace EDGAR Database

The new system is called IDEA, short for Interactive Data Electronic Applications. The SEC said in a release that it will give investors faster and easier access to financial information about public companies and mutual funds.

Built on completely new architecture, the new system will at first supplement and then eventually replace the 1980s-based EDGAR system, according to the SEC. With IDEA, the tedious task of sifting through forms one at a time will be eliminated, and investors will be able to immediately congregate information from thousands of companies and forms.

The SEC said it is ready for “the new world of financial disclosure’ interactive data will present. The agency has formally proposed requiring U.S. companies to provide financial information using interactive data beginning as early as next year, and separately has proposed requiring mutual funds to submit their public filings using interactive data.